small diesel cars, way of the future?

My 1.9 TiD SAAB does no better MPG on my commute unless I drive like a very old granny than did my Seat Ibiza 1.4 (granted one is a cheap horrible car and the other is a bit more expensive horrible car). On a straight motorway run, yes it does. Service intervals are wide, but I live in fear of the inlet manifold or dual mass flywheel going. I was reading somewhere that the seemingly quite respected Honest John bloke (motoring columnist?) has been warning of the repair costs of modern diesels for some time. I haven't read his warnings, but did read that .
It seems to me that all modern diesels are essentially reliable, but when one goes bad it can be from most makes and a lot of pain.
Is this also the case with smaller diesels?
Personally, I have been looking for a small car for my wife, and think really petrol is still the way to go with the recent improvements in MPG (at the expense of performance).

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Originally Posted by Miss_Undaztood

Well, rightly or wrongly, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, most of mine come from my own experience of from talking to car owners.

Personally, I still prefer the way a petrol car drives too.

Lastly :
http://www.parkers.co.uk/News/Motori...el-calculator/

That article is old... And it's only reference to petrol v diesel is in in relation to the cost to fuel when diesel WAS 30p more than petrol making it pointless. That's not the case any more.

I appreciate your opinions rightly or wrongly... Such as the way they drive, that is an opinion.

But your wrong on all other account such as tax, emmisions and servicing. You state you have an 8 year old 4x4 petrol gaz guzzler I imagine it falls into the £480 a year to tax bracket at the very least, I'm sure it get less than 30mpg and it emmisions will probably be over 330g of co2.

To put it into context my dirty (it's not), smelly (it doesn't actually), smokey (not one bit) diesel fiesta gives out 105g co2 (5g off being tax exempt and only 6g more than a prius) can achieve 78mpg and costs £35 a year to tax.

I think owning the same uneconomcal, high emission petrol 4x4 for 8 years you are probably slightly out of touch with the reality of modern day cars and the options available. So your opinions from your experience could be considered limited, I would wager the people your talking too have blinkered views too. I've had 8 cars in that time and have looked into it alot... Almost to geek levels.

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/petrol...05&deriv=43961

no tax costs included in that either.

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Originally Posted by the white rabbit

My 1.9 TiD SAAB does no better MPG on my commute unless I drive like a very old granny than did my Seat Ibiza 1.4 (granted one is a cheap horrible car and the other is a bit more expensive horrible car). On a straight motorway run, yes it does. Service intervals are wide, but I live in fear of the inlet manifold or dual mass flywheel going. I was reading somewhere that the seemingly quite respected Honest John bloke (motoring columnist?) has been warning of the repair costs of modern diesels for some time. I haven't read his warnings, but did read that .
It seems to me that all modern diesels are essentially reliable, but when one goes bad it can be from most makes and a lot of pain.
Is this also the case with smaller diesels?
Personally, I have been looking for a small car for my wife, and think really petrol is still the way to go with the recent improvements in MPG (at the expense of performance).

The Saab/renault 1.9tid/dci was a shared engine and the early 2001 - 2004 engine failed on an epic scale. I had a 2002 1.9 dci laguna which had dual mass flywheel problems and turbo/egr valve problems. Renault and Saab admitted it was a design issue rather than technology. There is loads on google about it.

A Small Diesel...such as the C3...as mentioned...

Makes more sense than a Prius....in terms of greenery.

The concept that a Citroen C1 Diesel will work out more expensive than a 4x4 petrol boggles the old brainbox...Ever had to buy tyres for a 4x4...

Originally Posted by the white rabbit

My 1.9 TiD SAAB does no better MPG on my commute unless I drive like a very old granny than did my Seat Ibiza 1.4 (granted one is a cheap horrible car and the other is a bit more expensive horrible car). On a straight motorway run, yes it does. Service intervals are wide, but I live in fear of the inlet manifold or dual mass flywheel going. I was reading somewhere that the seemingly quite respected Honest John bloke (motoring columnist?) has been warning of the repair costs of modern diesels for some time. I haven't read his warnings, but did read that .
It seems to me that all modern diesels are essentially reliable, but when one goes bad it can be from most makes and a lot of pain.
Is this also the case with smaller diesels?
Personally, I have been looking for a small car for my wife, and think really petrol is still the way to go with the recent improvements in MPG (at the expense of performance).

Yeah I`ve heard of honest john, some good stuff on his site.
And yes i`ve seen the results of dual mass flywheels "letting go". Mostly on pugs tho. The clutch starts to feel different, then you get an almighty bang and the engine cuts out. When the flywheel disintegrates it takes the flywheel ( CAS ) sensor with it and the ECU has no clue whats happening. Then its new flywheel, new clutch and new sensor, plus labour. Fook dat, lol. Modern petrols possibly have dual mass flywheels to, but for some reason they seem to fail on diesels more.

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Originally Posted by thefallenangel

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/petrol...05&deriv=43961

In that case I could break even in 3 to 6 months in that scenario at current fuel cost lol... I've just ironically got rid of a 1.2 Clio expression terrible gutless car compared to the diesel, bordered on dangerous contemplating the fast lane

/ignores all the stuff about diesels

My 3.5 year (and growing) experience of my '98 Ford Focus is that the quality design isn't very good. Just a general "why use 3 bolts to hold this on when 1 will do?" kind of attitude. Because it means you're screwed if that one bolt breaks or has issues! Grr. At least pattern parts are cheaper than I've ever seen before

Service cost have never bothered me. My mate charges me £50 and it gets a dealer stamp. I've also never failed an MOT
Mates rates are best.

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Originally Posted by muffles

/ignores all the stuff about diesels

My 3.5 year (and growing) experience of my '98 Ford Focus is that the quality design isn't very good. Just a general "why use 3 bolts to hold this on when 1 will do?" kind of attitude. Because it means you're screwed if that one bolt breaks or has issues! Grr. At least pattern parts are cheaper than I've ever seen before

To be fair alot changes in 12 years